Responsibility

I feel as though I spend way too much time seeking help.  I listen to music and advertisements for a half-hour on the phone waiting to talk to a real person, only to repeat this frustrating annoyance two days later because the initial person I talked to never did their job in fixing the problem.  I call the bank to correct an error I dealt with a week before but it had never been processed.  I continually have to repeat my case to large companies because the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing.

I wait for a worker three days in a row who either doesn’t show up or calls with some excuse for his delay.  He only did half of his job when he finally came and walked out with an expensive part that we had paid for.  (He claims he doesn’t have it even though we noticed it was gone five minutes after he left.) 

What is going on in this world?  No one wants to be responsible.  Very few are committed to doing the best job they can.  We live in a world where customer service is almost a lost art.  More and more people seem to be satisfied with doing a halfway job.

This disease, I’m afraid, has spread into marriages.  Couples give up at the slightest level of discomfort.  It’s always the other person’s fault.  No one takes responsibility for their own mistakes.  Divorce is an easier word to digest these days than the word commitment.  What ever happened to commitment in marriage? 

I suppose some of the blame falls on us baby boomers.  We spoiled our children and taught them that the world revolves around them.  They can do whatever they want to do.  And where has that thinking gotten us?  We’ve become a world with no rights or wrongs – it’s whatever works for the individual.  We’ve lost all our values and morals with no more rules or guidelines. (Except when we want to publically talk about God – there are many regulations for that.)

No wonder divorce is popular now.  We live in a disposable society.  If it doesn’t work, throw it away.  (It often costs more to have things fixed.)  If you don’t like it, get rid of it.

Forgive me the glumness today, but the media also brings me down.  I don’t watch the news on television anymore, but I may also have to give up Facebook.  I see too much there that disturbs my soul.  (Feeling even worse now – I just remembered my conviction about complaining on last week’s post.  L)  I almost want to quit dealing with people.

But then, wouldn’t I be like all the others who can’t seem to see a project, a relationship or a promise through to the finish?  Why does it seem that our society doesn’t want to experience hardship or do the necessary work, yet we seem unhappier and more uncertain than any other time I can remember? 

James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”

“Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”

It sounds to me like we will never grow to maturity and completeness as long as we don’t finish what we began.  I would say that we would also never know satisfaction and contentment, either.  How can you when you don’t attempt to work through problems and set goals in your life?

We are all put on Earth for a purpose.  I’m afraid that very few people achieve their God-given purpose.  It takes a lot of work and sacrifice to do so.  Those characteristics are dying away in this world.

When we become lazy and lose motivation to finish something we’ve started, that attitude invades other areas of our lives, even our marriage.  We then miss the plans God has for our life and don’t realize the importance of achieving goals.

I think of the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:14.  “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  While he spent a lot of undeserved time in prison, Paul didn’t complain and wallow in self-pity – he wrote letters to his apostles which became books of the New Testament.  The most difficult time in his life produced documents that changed the lives of many, many people throughout history – me being one of them.

I want to keep running the race towards my goal and not let the ways of the world interfere.  That should also be our goal in marriage – to achieve the healthy marriage that God intended for us.  It takes work but the rewards are heavenly.  I choose to stay responsible.